The plan was for only me to
relate to the news media our family's health care story and our successful enrollment
in the ACA. But Governor Quinn went rogue and
called each of us to the microphone to tell our story. For the rest
of my family it was a crash course on delivering an extemporaneous speech.
We had fun and laughed about it all with
Governor Quinn after the news cameras had left. He was cordial to my
family and he spent about fifteen minutes casually talking with us.
The next time we met Governor Quinn was
in October, also at a news conference for health care, at the Alivio
Medical Center in Chicago. Again we were promoting the extension
of health care insurance in Illinois. Governor Quinn was embroiled in
a brutal campaign at the time; so he was unable to stick around as
before.
Finally, we met Governor Quinn at an election rally
at his headquarters on North LaSalle St. on November 3rd, right before the election. Once again we related our health care story to a cheering
crowd in support of Governor Quinn's effort to extend health care
insurance.
The atmosphere at the rally was
festive, anticipating an electoral victory for Governor Quinn, but
alas, it was not meant to be. Governor Quinn lost to a self financed
billionaire that put $28 million of his own money into the campaign.
Governor Quinn lost by about 300,000 votes, with about 1.42 million
votes.
The turnout for Governor Quinn was well
below that of other establishment Democrats, such as Senator Dick
Durbin, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, and Secretary of State Jessee
White, they received an average of about 1.8 million votes. The
statewide referendums received an average of about 1.65 million
votes.
So how did Governor Quinn's vote total
manage to fall well below that of statewide Democrats and
referendums? The short answer is that establishment Democrats; such
as Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan, Illinois Senate
President John Cullerton and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel did not fully
support Governor Quinn. If Governor Quinn had received just the
average vote total of other Democrat statewide candidates and
referendums; he would have been re-elected.
Governor Quinn is not an establishment
Democrat, nor was ever part of the mythical Madigan/Blagojevich/Quinn 'corrupt
Chicago machine' as he was portrayed throughout the campaign.
Governor Quinn, to the best of our knowledge and experience, is an
honest person and sincere in his intentions. He is a hard worker and
has the best interest of all Illinois citizens in mind.
Families, such as ours, will sorely miss Pat Quinn's focus and efforts as Governor of Illinois. We wish him
the very best in the future.
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